“It’s All About the People”: A Chat With Seattle Branch Manager Nona Hasegawa

Strong community roots and home office support help Stifel’s Seattle branch evolve in a changing local market.

At Stifel, we encourage each branch manager to develop a unique approach to recruitment, retention, and management. After all, every advisor — and market — is different. That's why we entrust our managers to follow their instincts and use their market knowledge to grow their branches.

I recently spoke with Nona Hasegawa, Stifel’s branch manager in Seattle, about her experience with the firm, her secrets to finding the best hires, and how she communicates the Stifel story to recruits.

Pacific Northwestern Roots

The prospect of participating in a training program in Southern California drew Hasegawa to the financial services industry in 1988. Coming from Juneau, Alaska, Hasegawa jumped at the chance to spend a few weeks in a sunnier clime.

After completing her training, Hasegawa returned to Juneau to become an advisor. She built a successful practice in Juneau and fine-tuned her industry expertise before relocating to Seattle in 1990. In 2008, she received a phone call from Stifel’s Western Region Director John Lee.  It was a call that changed her career.  Lee asked Hasegawa to help Stifel establish the firm’s foothold in Washington by opening an office in Seattle.  It would be one of nearly 70 offices that have opened under Lee’s leadership.

As branch manager, Hasegawa’s financial know-how and interpersonal skills have helped her recruit new talent and maintain a positive, entrepreneurial atmosphere.

Telling the Stifel Story

When talking with recruits, one of the first things Hasegawa tries to convey is Stifel’s culture of integrity and trust.  It’s an easy sell when people realize she’s being totally authentic. “I’m proud of our people and the people that we’ve hired,” she tells me, “I like coming into work every day — and the recruits I meet with can see that.”

She also notes Stifel’s branch managers in Bellevue — located just across Lake Washington from Seattle — have been  instrumental in helping her grow her branch. “Bellevue branch managers Mark McClure, Andy Campbell, and I work well together and often meet with prospects together to tell our story,” she says. “It’s helpful to have another manager’s insights when recruiting.”

But it’s the home office visit, she says, that seals the deal. “It’s important for recruits to see that the company’s bond desks work to serve the retail client, rather than Stifel’s bottom line,” she says. Hasegawa also works to show recruits that, as she puts it, Stifel is “a big firm with a small firm feel. Community is important here — and that’s obvious in how the home office works to support our advisors.”

Hasegawa has experienced this support firsthand. She is part of Stifel’s Women’s Initiative Network (WIN), which creates mentoring and networking opportunities for female advisors. “Stifel has always done an incredible job making women feel supported,” she says. “WIN is just one more way in which Stifel has committed to providing advancement opportunities to its female employees.”

Giving Back to the Seattle Community

Hasegawa is proud of her colleagues’ commitment to local nonprofits. Philanthropy, she notes, is especially important given the current economic climate in Seattle. As the city has prospered, rising rents have created financial difficulties for small businesses and lower-income residents. Hasegawa’s branch is eager to help these underserved members of the community.

For Hasegawa, success in recruiting and success as a manager go hand in hand. “If you get good people, they’re easy to manage,” she says, “it’s really all about the people.”